Keen Johnson was Governor of Kentucky between 1939 and 1943 and lieutenant governor from 1935 to 1939. His first love was newspapering, he bought the Mirror, a weekly at Elizabethtown, in 1919. He later sold it and completed his journalism education at the University of Kentucky in 1922, after which he bought the Anderson News, a weekly in Lawrenceburg. He purchased part interest in the Richmond Daily Register in 1925 and became co-publisher, a position he retained until his death. He served briefly as a part-time reporter for the Lexington Herald. Johnson was president of the Kentucky Press Association in 1925 and was also president of the UK Alumni Association and member State Board of Education and Board of Regents at Eastern Kentucky State College.  He was an Undersecretary of Labor during Truman Administration and an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate in 1960. He was vice president and director of Reynolds Metals Co. Johnson served overseas in World War I as first lieutenant. He was a frugal governor who paid off state debt, and left $10 million in surplus. Kenn Johnson died on February 7, 1970.